The present invention pertains to wheelchairs and particularly to suspension of the large rear wheels of wheelchairs which are manually operable as well as those that are powered by self-contained motors.
In the typical manual wheelchair each rear wheel is a large wheel mounted to the frame of the wheelchair without any provision for absorption of shocks or damping of vibration of the wheelchair. In such a wheelchair, shocks and vibrations arising from irregularities and defects in the traveled surface are transmitted through the rear wheels to the wheelchair occupant. One attempt to reduce this phenomenon is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,455,031 wherein a shock absorber interconnects the seat of the wheelchair with a frame on which the large rear wheels are mounted. The present invention provides simplified shock absorbing apparatus for each large rear wheel to reduce the shock and vibration felt by the user of a wheelchair traversing a surface.